“What difference does it make if he’s ever seen an ocean before or not? That’s possibly the dumbest thing you’ve ever said. If he wants to scuba dive, then he should…at least once. Maybe he’ll hate it, or maybe he’ll go on to discover some great marine…” She couldn’t think of the right term and finished lamely with, “Thing.” She rolled her eyes at herself, but then continued, because Oscar could trash her dreams all he wanted to, but he wasn’t trashing their son’s. “He’s so young, he can do or be anything, and our job as good parents is to let him figure this all out.”
“No, our job as good parents is not to let our kids be morons. Scuba diving? Seriously? What kind of living is that?”
“Okay, first of all, I never said I wanted to make a living at it. I just said I wanted to do it. Both of you just back off. It’s my life, Dad. She’s right about that and I am an adult.”
“Well, my money stops here and now. I’ll still support Austin until he’s eighteen…”
“Because you’re legally obligated to,” Destiny muttered under her breath and instantly regretted the lapse into sheer pettiness. Oscar wasn’t a bad father, he was just so absent all the time, from their marriage, from his kids, from everything.
“That’s not fair, Des. I’ve given you all everything you ever wanted, but it was never enough for any of you, so then fuck it!”
“That’s because all any of us ever wanted was you!” She screamed at him, and tears began to well in her eyes as old pain rose to the surface.
She held herself back as years of memories and longing came flooding back to her. None of it mattered anymore, and she wasn’t doing this in front of Austin and Max.
“Look, Oscar you don’t have to approve. I don’t need your money. I’m going to Florida next week, and I’m making a go of this. You can support it or not. I really don’t give a rat’s ass at this point.”
“All right, Mom!” Max cheered her on.
She’d never stood up to Oscar like that, not in all the years they’d been together or been apart. She always felt like she owed him something. He had provided her and the boys with a good life. She hadn’t had to work outside the home and had been able to fulfill her dream of a stay-at-home mom, something she richly, deeply enjoyed, but her boys were nearly grown now, and she’d been feeling that tug that it was time to do something for herself.
It had never occurred to her to do something quite so grand as this. She thought maybe she’d join a gym, maybe get involved with the fine arts league, but something had happened to her in Florida that changed the trajectory of her life, and now here she was on a path utterly foreign. She was committed to it, though. Come hell or high water, she’d see it through. Even if she failed, at least she’d be able to say she tried. Her boys would know that she tried and that was all that really mattered to her.
“Nice, Destiny.”
“Whatever, Oscar.”
She decided to leave the room before things spiraled into further juvenile territory and her sons had to be referees and the only adults in the room. She went onto the back porch and was relieved when she heard the front door slam and Oscar’s high octane engine rev in the driveway. She knew he wasn’t going to support her, but this wasn’t something she could have kept a secret from him either.
“Mom?”
She looked up to see Max’s head poking through the back door, questioning whether or not he should venture farther.
“Yeah, honey?”
He came the rest of the way out and took a spot on the brick planter beside her.
“You okay?”
She smiled at him and caressed his head as she had since he was a toddler. Kids weren’t supposed to be the ones who looked out for their parents, but she sometimes wondered if that wasn’t just the curse of divorce. It threw everyone into such turmoil that no one knew whose responsibility was what anymore.
“I’m fine.” She placed her hand on his leg and tapped it in a gesture she hoped was reassuring. “Please don’t worry about me.”
“I always worry about you. I love you.”
Now the tears did fall. Torn between pride at who her son was and guilt that she’d ever made him worry, she had no hope of keeping them back.
“Geez, Mom.” He moved a little farther away from her.
She grinned and pulled a dead fern leaf out of the planter, running the fronds between her fingers.
“I know, but I can’t help it!” She sniffled and caught a couple of the tears that tried to slip down her cheek, hoping she cut off black tracks of mascara before they started.
“Can I ask you something, Mom?”
She continued to catch renegade tears. “Of course.”
“What made you do this? I mean it’s so huge, and well…” He shrugged and left hanging the unspoken but obvious, you’re not the type of person to take leaps of faith. That was okay. He was right. She wasn’t, or hadn’t been, but maybe now she was.
“Don’t wait until you’re my age to follow your dreams, Max. Maybe I just never realized I could before. Maybe I just always felt like my dreams weren’t as important as everybody else’s needs. Maybe I just allowed myself to get sucked into a life that never really fit…well, except for you and Austin. I’d give up every dream I ever had for the two of you and I wouldn’t have one regret, but…” She searched herself internally. Everything had happened so fast, she honestly still wasn’t sure what had happened. It seemed like she’d been on the phone with Aiden one minute, and at a bank the next. “I think it’s fate, Max. I think it’s what I was always meant for. I guess I just think it’s my time. Probably doesn’t make sense, but…”
“It does, Mom, and I’m glad you’re doing it.”
He smiled at her, and she remembered that smile at three and five and eight and ten… It made her heart squeeze and terror rushed in. What if she couldn’t do this? What if she just tore through what was a solid, albeit boring existence and splashed a bucket of cold chaos all over their lives?
She swallowed back panic and closed her eyes. It was too late for second guessing, and what she told Max was true, something about that place had felt right. She felt so at home there—almost if the place was meant for her and her alone, like it needed her in some way. No one could know what the future held, but it looked as if her future was moving to Florida. Beyond that…who knew?
All she was sure of was that for once, she wasn’t going to ignore her own needs and desires, and she wasn’t going to live her life in fear of disappointing people who never seemed pleased with anything she did no matter how hard she tried. For just this once, she was going to follow her own heart and chase dreams. Maybe it was entirely cheesy to think, but her life was about to begin, and for once, she was going to embrace it!
Chapter Two
“In her day, this place must have been spectacular.” Destiny waited as Aiden stood looking around the lobby in a white linen, perfectly unwrinkled suit. Sunglasses in his hand, dark hair perfectly in place, he looked like he just stepped out of a magazine.
Though she desperately appreciated his confidence, Destiny couldn’t speak. The overwhelming nature of what she’d done had caught up with her somewhere the night before, and now she was just this side of a full-blown panic attack.
The elevated area off the main lobby where they were standing had once been a lobby bar. Though the place came with everything right down to the wineglasses, the poor thing had fallen by the wayside over the years, and the wineglasses weren’t going to do her much good when there was little to no staff, no guests to speak of and a lot of updating required before it would look as sharp as it had a decade before.
Although, as she looked around examining her hotel, she also noticed that the carpet wasn’t stained. It was actually in pretty good shape. The pool table and jukebox didn’t look any the worse for wear. The tables, cane-back chairs, and bar stools all seemed to function well, and though their tropical-themed fabric may have been brighter at one point in their past, they were still perfectly u
seable.
The lobby just beyond where she and Aiden stood boasted two stunning fountains and a host of tropical foliage that drank in the sunlight from four large skylights. There was generous seating and even a white baby grand piano to the left of the main doors that probably needed tuning, but might be a nice asset at some point for welcoming guests.
She tried to smile, but her stomach turned over.
“Oh good God, what have I done?” She sunk like a stone into the nearest chair and put her hand to her forehead.
Aiden rushed to her side, dropping to one knee in front of her. “Destiny, it’s going to be fine. Better than fine!”
She looked down into his beautiful eyes and sexy smile, and mostly felt nauseous.
“Aiden, I’m a middle-aged woman from Kansas. I dress like it’s still the fifties. I wear your classic librarian hairstyle. I’m not stylish or hip or modern, and I’m not even sure I know what is anymore. I have no work history. I never went to college. I raised babies. I have no business trying to be a hotel magnate in Orlando, Florida!”
He laughed and took her hand. “Destiny, I like your style. It’s quirky, but it suits you from the tip of your red head to the pointy little shoes you like to wear, and you don’t need to know the latest trends to run a hotel, that’s what designers are for. Maybe you’ve never had a job in your life, but you are one smart woman. You’ve raised two amazing kids of which I am in awe. You more than have the brains for this, and you have all the right in the world to make it happen. You want to know why I was willing to give you the money for this place? Why I cosigned the loan for you when you refused me?”
“Insanity?” A strand of hair fell loose and toppled over her right eye.
He chuckled. “No! It was the passion in your voice when you called me. Which, by the way, I was very glad you did, though totally shocked at the same time.”
She gave him a half smile and looked around her hotel again. It was ginormous. What the fuck was she going to do with it?
“Well, you were the only person I knew who could tell me exactly how insane I was and quite frankly, I thought maybe your family would want it. I never thought in a million years that I…that you…” her stomach turned again and she groaned.
“I know, it’s daunting, but, Destiny, I have faith in you. Besides all the things I already said and all the things you don’t know that are completely teachable, you have a very good eye for potential. You have a good gut. Look at this place.”
She looked at him instead, hoping he’d pick up on the fact that she thought he’d lost his mind as well.
“Picture this bar at happy hour, full of conventioneers.”
She looked at the bench along the back wall that had three tables set along it with a few chairs and could almost see men in suits laughing, drinking.
“Now look at the lobby and picture the families, the kids with the Mickey Mouse-shaped balloons, the laughter and the smiles.”
She looked out over the totally empty lobby, but something in her shifted the picture to one like Aiden envisioned. She looked at the long registration desk and pictured a line of people waiting to check in. At the guest services desk, a honeymoon couple made plans for a romantic dinner cruise. Flags from all different countries hung along the entrance out front welcoming people from all over the world. It almost seemed real, but how does one go from winning a Floridian getaway to owning a hotel?
She guessed one had friends like Aiden Grand. He truly had believed in her unlike anyone ever before in her life, and she’d gotten carried away with it, but what if she could actually make this all work? Was there really a possibility?
“Are you the new owners?”
Destiny jumped to her feet. A woman not more than five feet tall, a little plump, and as flaxen blonde as they come with her hair piled high atop her head was standing beside her. The woman’s voice was nasally, and she wore a tropical shirt and a pair of white shorts and glasses so thick it was a wonder she could see at all when she took them off.
“I guess that would be me,” Destiny said, not feeling at all confident in her new title.
“Wonderful.” The woman held out her hand. “I’m Mrs. Murphy. The old owners assured me they’d mention me to you.”
“Oh! Mrs. Murphy, yes.” She smiled. “Yes, they did. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Apparently Mrs. Murphy and her Chihuahua, Tiger, were permanent residents of the hotel, and conditional on the sale of the property was that she be allowed to stay in her suite of rooms.
“Good, I just wanted to make sure there’s no trouble.” She adjusted her glasses that she wore attached to a rhinestone-encrusted rope around her neck.
“No, Mrs. Murphy, of course not. This is your home. You stay as long as you want.”
Mrs. Murphy appeared to be checking out Aiden rather thoughtfully, to the point Destiny felt a blush come on.
“Aren’t you yummy.” She looked up at Destiny. “You’re one lucky lady.”
“Oh, God no! No. No. No.” The blush was as good as a blaze now, and Aiden’s laughter really didn’t help.
Mrs. Murphy was looking at her as if she’d lost her mind, and her glasses magnified her eyes so that she looked almost like a cartoon character, a cartoon character wearing an awful lot of powder-blue eye shadow.
“It’s not like that. He’s married.” Destiny smiled like somehow she’d explained everything with that, but when Mrs. Murphy continued to look at her as if she’d lost her mind, she felt the need to add, “To someone else.”
She very nearly told the woman that not only were she and Aiden not having sex, but she wasn’t having sex with anyone…nor did she plan on doing so. Luckily Aiden jumped in just in the nick of time, extending his hand and his charm to the woman, pulling her focus entirely from Destiny, who heaved a sigh of relief.
“Mrs. Murphy, it is a great pleasure to meet you, and if you need anything, either Destiny or myself will be more than happy to see to your needs. Is Tiger well?” Aiden enchanted the woman.
Destiny watched, utterly impressed. Mrs. Murphy smiled and pushed playfully at Aiden’s arm. An actual giggle escaped her lips.
“Oh, I like you.” She looked at Destiny pointedly. “Married or not.”
Destiny’s stomach flipped again. What the fuck did one say to such a thing? Maybe the problem was it had been so damn long since she’d had sex that she was certain her vagina had closed up shop and gone on vacation, a long, extended vacation.
“My wife and daughter arrive this weekend, Mrs. Murphy. I will be certain to make introductions as soon as they’re here. We’re staying in the suites on the floor above you, so we’ll be close if you should need anything.”
“Why, thank you.” She practically twittered.
“You’re welcome. Is there anything else right now?” Aiden smiled, showing his dimples.
“No, I suppose not.” She was being dismissed and clearly was looking for some excuse to stay on longer.
As she started to leave, she looked pointedly at Destiny. “You need to speak up more. Men don’t want the shy ones anymore. It’s that Snooki girl they all go for. Push your boobs up and speak a little louder, honey.” She, of course, modeled what she meant by “push your boobs up” as she walked away.
“Oh, good God,” Destiny mumbled through a forced bright smile.
As Mrs. Murphy rounded the corner of the lobby and moved out of sight, Aiden’s face cracked, and within a moment he was caught in a bout of full-blown laughter.
Destiny playfully slapped his forearm. “It’s not funny!”
Yet even she was laughing pretty hard by this point.
“Look, Mrs. Murphy’s monthly bill alone pays a large portion of your bank payment, so you may have to put up with a bit of love advice from time to time, but it’s worth it! Plus, she isn’t wrong.” Aiden gave her a slow once-over from head to foot, making her want to go hide behind one of the potted palms. “Push your boobs up and speak a little louder, and I’m sure you’ll have al
l the men you can handle.”
They both spiraled into laughter once more. It was such a good feeling to simply laugh, and she realized it had been too long since she had. Maybe things weren’t as bleak as she was trying to paint them. Perhaps she just needed to hold onto a lighter attitude and roll with things a bit more.
“Oh, Aiden, do you really think I can turn this place into a destination?”
“I do. I really truly, absolutely, no bullshitting you, do. It’s a mile and a half from Disney, maybe five miles from Universal, Sea World, Harbor Gardens, centrally located to both coasts. You can arrange tours for people to go deep-sea fishing. You’ve got a ton of convention space, you can host weddings. I mean, damn, Destiny there’s so much potential here, and I will help you all the way.”
There was so much she hadn’t thought of before, but he was right. There was unlimited potential for her to do any number of things. Though the hotel had seven hundred rooms, many of them needed updating, and currently there was fewer than fifty filled. The restaurants and bars hadn’t been opened in months, and there were currently no convention bookings, but they could change all that. There was nothing hard work and dedication couldn’t fix here.
“Don’t mean to interrupt.”
A thick Irish brogue sent tiny little shivers right up her spine, and when she turned to look over her shoulder at the man attached to that brogue, she discovered he was take-your-breath-away damn fine looking as well.
“Ronan.” Aiden exchanged a bear hug with the man.
Ronan stood every bit as tall as Aiden, although the two contrasted one another in every other way. Aiden, even when dressed casually, wore expensive fabrics and rich colors as the teal shirt he wore today attested to. Ronan was wearing very tight-fitting jeans with an equally as form-fitting black tee, and there was a tiny tear at his right shoulder that Destiny had the most overwhelming urge to poke her finger through. Aiden’s black hair was gelled and in perfect place, while Ronan’s wavy dark-golden hair hung haphazardly to his shoulders. Aiden was clean shaven. Ronan had a thick five o’clock shadow that looked like it was on purpose.
The Seduction of Destiny Rhode [The Seduction 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 2